The Most Popular Digital Education Tools For Teachers And

Learners

1. Edmodo
Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students, and is assimilated
into a social network. In this one, teachers can create online collaborative groups,
administer and provide educational materials, measure student performance, and
communicate with parents, among other functions. Edmodo has more than 34 million
users who connect to create a learning process that is more enriching, personalized,
and aligned with the opportunities brought by technology and the digital environment.

2. Socrative
Socrative is a system that allows teachers to create exercises or educational games
which students can solve using mobile devices, whether smartphones, laptops, or
tablets. Teachers can see the results of the activities and, depending on these, modify
the subsequent lessons in order to make them more personalized. Socrative professes
to be “your classroom app for fun, effective classroom engagement”. In a nutshell, it
is a cloud-based student response system, allowing teachers to immediately test
student understanding by way of mini-quizzes, assigned to them on class laptops or
tablets. Quizzes can be multiple choice, graded short answer, true-false, or open-
ended short response. Socrative’s strength lies in its “on the fly” assessment method,
providing teachers with valuable and timely feedback.

3. Projeqt
Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic
slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter
timelines, and videos, among other options. During a class session, teachers can share
with students academic presentations which are visually adapted to different devices.

4. Thinglink
Thinglink allows educators to create interactive images with music, sounds, texts, and
photographs. These can be shared on other websites or on social networks, such as
Twitter and Facebook. Thinglink offers the possibility for teachers to create learning
methodologies that awaken the curiosity of students through interactive content that
can expand their knowledge.

5. TED-Ed
TED-Ed is an educational platform that allows creating educational lessons with the
collaboration of teachers, students, animators—generally people who want to expand
knowledge and good ideas. This website allows democratizing access to information,
both for teachers and students. Here, people can have an active participation in the
learning process of others.

6. cK-12
cK-12 is a website that seeks to reduce the cost of academic books for the K12 market
in the United States and the world. To achieve its objective, this platform has an open
source interface that allows creating and distributing educational material through the
internet, which can be modified and contain videos, audios, and interactive exercises.
It can also be printed and comply with the necessary editorial standards in each
region. The books that are created in cK-12 can be adapted to the needs of any teacher
or student.

7. ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a tool to improve student behavior: teachers provide their students with
instant feedback so that good disposition in class is 'rewarded' with points and
students have a more receptive attitude towards the learning process. ClassDojo
provides real-time notifications to students, like 'Well Done David!' and '+1', for
working collaboratively. The information that is collected about student behavior can
be shared later with parents and administrators through the web.

8. eduClipper
This platform allows teachers and students to share and explore references and
educational material. In eduClipper, you can collect information found on the internet
and then share it with the members of previously created groups, which offers the
possibility to manage more effectively the academic content found online, improve
research techniques, and have a digital record of what students achieved during the
course. Likewise, it provides the opportunity for teachers to organize a virtual class
with their students and create a portfolio where all the work carried out is stored.

9. Storybird
Storybird aims to promote writing and reading skills in students through storytelling.
In this tool, teachers can create interactive and artistic books online through a simple
and easy to use interface. The stories created can be embedded in blogs, sent by
email, and printed, among other options. In Storybird, teachers can also create
projects with students, give constant feedback, and organize classes and grades.

10. Animoto
Animoto is a digital tool that allows you to create high-quality videos in a short time
and from any mobile device, inspiring students and helping improve academic
lessons. The Animoto interface is friendly and practical, allowing teachers to create
audiovisual content that adapts to educational needs.
11. Kahoot!
Kahoot! is an educational platform that is based on games and questions. Through this
tool, teachers can create questionnaires, discussions, or surveys that complement
academic lessons. The material is projected in the classroom and questions are
answered by students while playing and learning at the same time. Kahoot! promotes
game-based learning, which increases student engagement and creates a dynamic,
social, and fun educational environment.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Online Learning

What Are The Advantages Of Online Learning?

1. Efficiency
Online learning offers teachers an efficient way to deliver lessons to students. Online
learning has a number of tools such as videos, PDFs, podcasts, and teachers can use
all these tools as part of their lesson plans. By extending the lesson plan beyond
traditional textbooks to include online resources, teachers are able to become more
efficient educators.
2. Accessibility Of Time And Place
Another advantage of online education is that it allows students to attend classes from
any location of their choice. It also allows schools to reach out to a more extensive
network of students, instead of being restricted by geographical boundaries.
Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived, and shared for future
reference. This allows students to access the learning material at a time of their
comfort.
Thus, online learning offers students the accessibility of time and place in education.
3. Affordability
Another advantage of online learning is reduced financial costs. Online education is
far more affordable as compared to physical learning. This is because online learning
eliminates the cost points of student transportation, student meals, and most
importantly, real estate. Additionally, all the course or study materials are available
online, thus creating a paperless learning environment which is more affordable,
while also being beneficial to the environment.
4. Improved Student Attendance
Since online classes can be taken from home or location of choice, there are fewer
chances of students missing out on lessons.
5. Suits A Variety Of Learning Styles
Every student has a different learning journey and a different learning style. Some
students are visual learners, while some students prefer to learn through audio.
Similarly, some students thrive in the classroom, and other students are solo learners
who get distracted by large groups.
The online learning system, with its range of options and resources, can be
personalized in many ways. It is the best way to create a perfect learning environment
suited to the needs of each student.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Online Learning?
1. Inability To Focus On Screens
For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle
with focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning, there is
also a greater chance for students to be easily distracted by social media or other sites.
Therefore, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging,
and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.
2. Technology Issues
Another key challenge of online classes is internet connectivity. While internet
penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, in smaller cities
and towns, a consistent connection with decent speed is a problem. Without a
consistent internet connection for students or teachers, there can be a lack of
continuity in learning for the child. This is detrimental to the education process.
3. Sense Of Isolation
Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an
online class, there are minimal physical interactions between students and teachers.
This often results in a sense of isolation for the students. In this situation, it is
imperative that the school allow for other forms of communication between the
students, peers, and teachers. This can include online messages, emails and video
conferencing that will allow for face-to-face interaction and reduce the sense of
isolation.
4. Teacher Training
Online learning requires teachers to have a basic understanding of using digital forms
of learning. However, this is not the case always. Very often, teachers have a very
basic understanding of technology. Sometimes, they don’t even have the necessary
resources and tools to conducts online classes.
To combat this, it is important for schools to invest in training teachers with the latest
technology updates so that they can conduct their online classes seamlessly.
5. Manage Screen Time
Many parents are concerned about the health hazards of having their children spend
so many hours staring at a screen. This increase in screen time is one of the biggest
concerns and disadvantages of online learning. Sometimes students also develop bad
posture and other physical problems due to staying hunched in front of a screen.
A good solution to this would be to give the students plenty of breaks from the screen
to refresh their mind and their body.